reporter: yeah. really no response from president trump, rene. in fact, his administration marking this failed missile launch in north korea with a very terse and short response from defense secretary james mattis, really a two sentence response. secretary mattis putting it this way saying the president and his military team are aware of north korea s most recent unsuccessful missile launch. the president has no further comment. so administration officials saying that this terse and short response is exactly what was needed because north korea, that they don t want to give north korea the attention that north korea sought in making this missile launch, a failed missile launch at that. the vice president, of course, traveling over in seoul today. he landed there today after that trip from the u.s. yesterday. the vice president really just making passing remarks when he spoke with military families in seoul earlier today saying that this failed test was a reminder of the provocation an
this morning s provocation from the north is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of south korea and the defense of america in this part of the world. your willingness to step forward to serve, to stand firm without fear, inspires our nation and inspires the world. the vice president s visit there in seoul is the first of an 11-day trip across the asia pacific region. the goal is to reassure allies as the tension mount with north korea. meanwhile, a white house foreign policy adviser says the missile launch came as no surprise and because it failed, there was no need to expand any resources against it. jessica snider is joining us now and live in florida. jessica, a trip tepid response from the president as well?
weapons including artillery luned up like the demilitarized zone. the city of seoul is 30 miles from the dmz and artillery pointed for seoul could be easily done and do a lot of damage if north korea felt they were in a corner here. not a type of scenario you could launch an air strike on a military target and expect that nothing will happen in terms of retaliation because north korean official i ve been speaking with here said they will retaliate with force if the united states launches some sort of preemptive strike on this country. another interesting thing i learned at the military parade on saturday, speaking with a government official, there was a special operation that was conducted in north korea on thursday where there were commandos jumping out of airplane and they put out photos of that special operation. the official told me that was in direct response from tweets by president trump about north korea. thank you so much to you both for that great context.
good morning, everyone. i m rene marsh in for christi paul. i m victor blackwell. happy easter to you. we will take you to vatican city later this morning. new this morning we start in south korea where the vice president mike pence has arrived in seoul saying the u.s. stand with its ally. this is hours after north korea s later provocation falls flat. yet another missile launch by north korea but this one fizzled out second late. the white house is offering a low-key response, but they are also warning another north korean nuclear test could be imminent. the vice president wrapped up his first day in seoul. earlier, the second family attended easter service with u.s. and south korean troops. he repeated the commitment to the region. listen. this is a challenging time all over the world. but especially here in the asian pacific. the opportunity for me to be here today, at such a time as
if they took the time and energy to launch a missile and fail, we don t need to expend any resource against this. if this was a different test, namely, a nuclear missile test, that would have been very different in terms of the kind of reaction and response that we would have heard and maybe even scene from this u.s. administration. acknowledgment from the vice president. chief correspondent dana bash traveling with the vice president in seoul as he wraps up the first of 11 days of this asian pacific tour. will ripley joins us. will, what are you hearing after this failed missile launch? reporter: i met with north korean government officials in pyongyan pyongyang. people in the highest level here